"Astray," Emma Donoghue's dazzling new collection of short stories, conjures an eclectic, even eccentric, cast: from cowboys and grave-robbers to Puritans and lesbian sculptors.

Spun from real bits of history - an article in a 19th-century newspaper, a footnote in a book, old love letters - the stories place marginal figures in the center of the action.

Out of sorts and often far from home, the men and women in these pages are anxious about their place in the world. Perhaps that's why their stories feel so familiar, even though they unfold across different regions and centuries, from a rustic Cape Cod settlement in the 1630s to a nursing home in Ontario in the 1960s.

Donoghue, 43, says the notion of being "astray" - or "a stray" - resonates in her own life. Born and raised in Ireland, she earned her Ph.D. in England and has now settled in Canada, where she lives with her partner and two young children.

"On good days, it has done me nothing but good," she says merrily. "On bad days, I'm confused about where I'm from."

Donoghue is gay, and sometimes gay characters appear in her writing - but not always. Her sexual identity, she says, has helped shape her fiction and her world view.

"If I wasn't gay, I would not have been as woken up early on in my life to of the idea of the socially marginal," says the writer in her soft brogue. "I had a very comfortable upbringing and there was nothing to shake that until the day I realized I was gay. I became interested in what it is to be the freak or the loser. It broadened so that now I am interested in outsiders. In my case, being gay led to this different angle on history - looking for the people who don't end up in the history books."

She has found these people in "Astray."

All the stories have been published previously, over the past 14 years. And all the voices are so distinct, the plots so diverse, that the reading experience is a bit like nibbling from a long, strange, trippy literary buffet. Comedy, history, legal drama, political intrigue, adventure... all served up side by side in one volume. It's wonderful.

"I'm a very confident researcher," says the prolific author, a full-time writer since age 23 who has published seven novels (including the critically acclaimed "Room" and "Slammerkin"), five short-story collections and other contemporary and historical fiction. "I've learned you can always draw on the hard work of scholars. With a combination of hard research and a lot of imagination, you can really transport your reader."

Dickens is her favorite novelist, she says, because his fiction moves so comfortably between the posh and the downtrodden.

"He was so confident about conjuring up a full and clear world," Donoghue says.

"Astray" begins with "Man and Boy," a poignant but light-hearted love story about a man and his elephant. Donoghue imagines the final days of Jumbo's residence at the London Zoo, before the historic elephant crossed the Atlantic to tour with P.T. Barnum. The story is told by Jumbo's keeper, who loves his large charge and must somehow coax the beast into a traveling crate:

"Now, whatever you do, Jumbo, don't make a liar of me. I don't have any secret signals or hidden powers; all I can think to do is to walk into the crate first, and turn, and open my arms and call you. Trust me, dearest boy, and I'll see you safe across the ocean, and stay by your side for better for worse, and take a father's and mother's care of you till the end. Are you with me?"

In "The Lost Seed" Donoghue channels a pious Puritan, whose thoughts are steeped in the cadences of the King James bible. His reports on the sexual proclivities of his fellow colonists have left him friendless:

"Better I should be spurned and despised, and feel myself to be entirely alone on this earth, than that I should relinquish my holy labor. They call me killjoy, but let them tell me this, what business have we with joy? What time have we to spare for joy, and what have we done to deserve it?"

For readers of "Room," Donoghue's best-selling novel of 2010, none of this is surprising. Narrated by Jack, a young boy who spends his first five years locked in an 11-by-11 room with his Ma, "Room" is both lyrical and profoundly disturbing. (I felt nauseated while reading the first half of the book, though I couldn't put it down.) But writing "Room" from Jack's point of view showcases Donoghue's skill: Yes, a tiny, fractured world can be utterly compelling through a 5-year-old's eyes.

A finalist for the Man Booker Prize, "Room" has caught the attention of Hollywood.

"No, I haven't sold the film rights yet, but I'm eager to do so," Donoghue says.

Asked if she'll be one of those hands-off authors who let filmmakers fuss with her story, she retorts: "Oh, no! I want to write the screenplay. I want to appear in the film. I want to be fully involved forever."

Her most exciting bit of fan mail came after the publication of "Room," when the creator of "Dora the Explorer" wrote to tell her how thrilled he was that Dora was featured in the book as one of Jack's most beloved TV friends.

Although she's on tour with "Astray," Donoghue is also working on her next book - her first crime novel - about a character so incredible you couldn't make her up.

"It's about an unsolved murder in San Francisco in 1876," Donoghue explains.

"A young woman was shot through a window, and she happened to be a notorious cross-dresser who caught frogs for a living. She supplied the restaurants of San Francisco with frogs."

Emma Donoghue will read from her new story collection, "Astray," and Hari Kunzru will read from his novel "Gods Without Men," 7:30 p.m. Monday as part of Inprint's Brown Reading Series, Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, Zilka Hall, 800 Bagby. $5; 713-521-2026 or inprinthouston.org.